China’s Huge Film Market Draws Korean Studios

‘Mr. Go,’ a China-South Korea co-production, is the tale of a baseball-playing gorilla.

Hollywood isn’t the only foreign player eyeing China.

Two major South Korean studios are strengthening cooperation with local players to grab a foothold in the world’s second-largest movie market.

Last month, China’s Huayi Brothers Media Corp. and Korea’s Showbox/Mediaplex Inc. released the $20 million, 3-D movie “Mr. Go,” about a gorilla from a Chinese circus who becomes a baseball superstar in Korea’s major leagues.

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Since opening in South Korea on July 17, the film has pulled in about 8.4 billion won ($7.6 million), according to the Korean Film Council, known as Kofic. In China, where it opened a day later, it has pulled in a bit more than 100 million yuan ($16.3 million), according to media-research firm EntGroup Inc.

“It is doing not bad, though not as good as expected,” said Son Jang-hyun, one of the producers of “Mr. Go.”

In June, South Korea’s CJ E&M Corp. struck a deal with state-run China Film Group and Pegasus & Taihe Entertainment International Co., a private Chinese company, to produce a sci-fi fantasy project called “The Fist,” featuring Chinese and Korean actors. In April, it also signed with the two companies to produce a 3-D Chinese historical epic, along with “Avatar” director-producer James Cameron.